Anthony Walton White Evans (October 31, 1817 – November 28, 1886), known as Walton Evans, was an American

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

whose work included countless railroad and canal commissions in North and South America during the mid-nineteenth century.

Birth

He was born on October 31, 1817, in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Anthony Walton White Anthony Walton White (July 7, 1750 – February 10, 1803) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War who had previously served as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Early life He was born o ...

, an

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

veteran.

Education

He attended local schools before entering the

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in 1834. He left the school in October 1836, and then served as an assistant engineer on the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

. In 1845 he became an assistant to Allan Campbell in the construction of the New York and Harlem Railroad extension to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. The following year he became the resident engineer on the job but resigned in 1850 to join Campbell in building the Copiapo Railroad in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Evans completed the road in 1853 after Campbell's departure. Evans then served as Chief Engineer for the construction of the Arica and Tacna Railroad in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

from 1853 to 1856. He returned to New York and worked as a consultant for the Lima and Oroya Railway in Peru. In that capacity, he designed the Verrugas Viaduct. This bridge was engineered by

Leffert L. Buck Leffert Lefferts Buck (February 5, 1837 – July 7, 1909) was an American civil engineer and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures. Career Leffert graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1863. After his graduation from St. Law ...

. Also working on the railway was

Virgil Bogue Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

. Both of these men were fellow RPI graduates.

Marriage

Evans returned to the United States and married Anna Zimmerman on June 24, 1856. The couple moved to Chile where Evans supervised the building of the Southern Railroad, which ran for fifty miles south of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. The railroad was completed in 1860. After his return to New York in 1860 he became a consulting engineer, and designed the Varrugas Viaduct on the Luna & Oroya Railroad. He acted as agent for a number of foreign railways to purchase equipment and recruit staff, including two locomotives for the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

in Australia in 1876 and the NZR K class of 1877, the first American locomotives supplied to the

New Zealand Government Railways The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

. He always recommended the use of American locomotives and cars over those built in Europe. From 1862 to 1864, he served as the engineer for the Port of New York and in 1865, he became President of the

United States Petroleum Company United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * United (2011 film) ...

. He also was President of the Spuyten Duyvil Rolling Mill. He was interested in what would become the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

in Central America, and he attended the 1879 International Congress on the Canal in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Evans collected books, and paintings which were displayed at his home, Sans Souci, in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

. He donated his collection to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

before his death. He died on November 28, 1886. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography
vol. 10; JT White company, 1900

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Walton 1817 births 1886 deaths Morris family (Morrisania and New Jersey) American civil engineers People from New Rochelle, New York People from New Brunswick, New Jersey Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Engineers from New York (state) Engineers from New Jersey